Lahore Police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested six members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for their alleged involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009.

Police said that a suicide jacket, four Kalashnikovs, eight hand grenades and 1,000 bullets were recovered from their possession.

Addressing a press conference, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Muhammad Aslam Tareen said that after investigating Muhammad Zubair alias Naeek Muhammad and Abdul Wahab – two men already in custody in the case – and with the help of camera footage, it had emerged that the attackers used Tauheed hostel at Wahdat Road and rented houses in Madina Colony near Cavalry Ground and Gujjar Colony, Shahdara, to plot the attack. He said that a day before the attack, the accused vacated a rented house in Gujjar Colony.

Tareen said that the police were tipped off about a meeting of the six TTP members by a source, who raided Jahangir’s tomb in Shahdara Town and arrested the alleged attackers.

The arrested men told interrogators that they belonged to the TTP and were given physical training in Kamalia by one Aslam alias Usama. They said they came to Lahore from Waziristan in December 2008 along with their commanders Abdur Haleem Masood and Aslam Yaseen. They also revealed that their plan was to kidnap the Sri Lankan cricket team and use them to pressure authorities into releasing other arrested TTP members. The alleged attackers said they brought the ammunition and suicide jackets from Toba Tek Singh.

According to the police, they gathered at Jamia Ashrafia after morning prayers on March 3, 2009, and arrived at City Tower near Liberty Chowk in two cars and two rickshaws.

Something happens more than 700 days ago…and suddenly arrests in that connection are made public…..!!!!!
it is a surety that these terrorists had been captured a long time ago…but announcement made on opportune time………..another way of point scoring …this time by Police….earlier it was Rehman Malik!!!!!!!!Recommend

Pakistan’s legal system is flawed. In the first instance, criminals are hardly netted. If they are arrested, they are not tried, or speedily tried. And, if they are tried and convicted, they are not execurted. Since the beginning of Swat operation, a large numbr of terrorists were arrested in scores of acts of terrorism all over the country, but how many of them tried, convicted and executed? Recommend

Don’t blame the courts for the incompetence of the LEA’s to collect forensic and other evidence and the incompetence of the prosecutors to build an air tight case against these elements.

I for one appreciate a judiciary that requires a high evidential bar to be met before finding people guilty of heinous crimes and sentencing them to long prison terms. Given that our LEA’s and prosecutors are still controlled by the political parties, who are not beyond using their influence to persecute their opponents, it is in fact a very good thing that the judiciary at least is requiring that proper evidence be provided and cases be built.Recommend

Unfortunately, the officials in Pakistan were very casual about the whole thing. To let something like this happen in the heart of the city, and then to let the firefight to go on for 45 minutes, and then to let the attackers get away – is simply inexcusable. The whole country lost the privilege to host any international sporting event for years because of this massive security lapse. Did any heads roll because of this?
We just have to look across the border to see how sporting events are held under security threats. You just get one chance – you fail once, and you lose the trust of all visiting teams.Recommend

How many times have we been here before, people are caught with much fanfare and then released later on for lack of evidence or some deal made with their patrons. Bring them to courts, expose them, try them and then hang them f convicted.Recommend

@Copper:
It is opportune time because Srilanka and Srilankan team is on nerves of our nation due to Semi Final of World Cup………Every tongue and mind has this name in mind…so why not strike the iron when it is HOT AGAIN…………!!!!!!!Recommend

@Kamal: Cool down lad. Don’t give too much strain to your brains by thinking. We don’t expect anything better from you. Just regurgitate the nonsense you were taught by your mullahs.
Blame everything on India/Israel/US.Recommend

This is too little too late.To allow such an attack to happen in broad daylight in heart of lahore under gaze of cameras & full security is bad enough..But to make arrest of some persons whose identity is still not revealed so late shows gross incompetence.I doubt if international cricket is possible in pakistan for quite some time..Pakistanis must understand that to have international teams playing in pakistan is more important than winning any cup.For this the security forces of pakistan must show more sincerety & focus.Recommend

@Cautious, how can you expect any better from the Pakistani authorities? We can’t even stop attacks within our own borders… how do you expect us to stop them within yours? Having said that, I’m no defence analyst but if a dozen illiterate mullahs can invade your country on a canoe, the indian authorities have to be justifiably blamed as much as their Pakistani counterparts… Recommend